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April 23, 2014

Orangeville hospital asks Erin for funding

As published in The Erin AdvocateA request
to help fund expansion at the Headwaters Health Care Centre (HHCC) in
Orangeville got a polite reception at the Erin Town Council meeting on April
15, but no promises of money.Councillors
will consider support of the hospital in their current budget deliberations,
but will also pass on the request to Wellington County. No dollar amount was
specified, but hospitals in Fergus, Mount Forest and Palmerston are already
asking the County for $9 million for their projects, as part of the “community”
contribution required by the Ministry of Health.Hospital
funding is not a municipal responsibility, but the County has been willing to
make large contributions from property taxes to supplement local fundraising.
If the $9 million is approved (which could be spread over several years), Erin
residents would contribute about $1.4 million of property taxes to hospitals
they rarely use, and nothing to the hospitals that they frequently use.“If we’re
going to fund hospitals, it should be area-rated,” said Mayor Lou Maieron. “I
want money to stay and help the residents of Erin, and if it goes outside
county borders, so be it.”The
Orangeville hospital serves a population of about 135,000 people, mainly from
Dufferin County, Caledon and Erin. They have provincial funding to cover about
70% of the cost of expanding their Ambulatory Care and Surgical Departments,
and are conducting a $16 million local fundraising campaign. The groundbreaking
is next January.Fundraising
Chair Bob Burnside told Erin council that Erin residents sought care at
Emergency Departments in Ontario 3,151 times last year, and that 42% of those
visits (1,312) were to Orangeville. That compares with 24% to Georgetown, 11%
to Guelph and 6% to Fergus.“This
number is indicative of the percentage of Erin residents who consider
Headwaters ‘their hospital’,” said Burnside.Headwaters
Health Care Centre has asked Dufferin County for $2 million over four years.
The County approved $500,000 for 2014, despite the objections of Amaranth
Township, which said any donation should be a separate levy, not paid by the
entire county. That donation represented about half of the Dufferin County tax
increase for 2014.Erin Councillor
Barb Tocher said it has been the tradition for counties to assist hospitals
within their own borders. She said local politicians should be lobbying the
province for income-based hospital funding.“It
shouldn’t be this way,” said Councillor John Brennan, suggesting that if Erin
has to contribute $1.4 million for hospitals, that a portion should be for
local needs.There were
105 private financial donations last year from Erin residents to HHCC.